The Lincoln LawyerFrom Thursday, February 5th, Netflix
Mickey Haller is back in the driving seat – or the back seat if you want to be literal about it – for a new batch of legal cases. In this fourth series based on the bestselling novels by Michael Connelly – in this case it’s on his 2020 book The Law of Innocence – the Los Angeles lawyer has to defend a most unusual client: himself. Haller, the only lawyer in the city whose office has whitewall tyres and a retractable roof, has been accused of murdering a former client, and it seems that everyone wants to see him go down for a crime he did not commit. After the violent conclusion to series three, there was bound to be some fallout, but Haller wasn’t expecting a murder rap to land at his feet. Manuel Garcia-Rulfo returns as Haller, with Neve Campbell as ex-wife Maggie McPherson, the criminal prosecutor, and Becki Newton as his other ex-wife, who is now his legal aide, Lorna Crane.
Cash Queens From Thursday, February 5th, Netflix
Cash Queens: Rebecca Marder, Zoe Marchal, Tya Deslauriers, Naidra Ayadi and Pascale Arbillot. Photograph: Laurent Le Crabe/Netflix
Five sassy but desperate French women don brightly coloured beards and rob a bank at gunpoint in this heist drama starring Rebecca Marder, Zoé Marchal, Tya Deslaurieux, Naidra Ayadi and Pascale Arbillot, and produced by Jonathan Cohen (who also plays the bank’s manager). The series, titled Les Lionnes in France, follows the quintet as they team up to pull off a big bank robbery loosely disguised as men but sometimes looking more like a cross between Maga survivalists and Hayseed Dixie. When their swag turns out to be a paltry €30,000, the women have to rethink their strategy, but with police, politicians and gangsters out to hunt them down, thinking their quarry are men, the Cash Queens will have to think fast to stay ahead of the game.
The Artful Dodger From Tuesday, February 10th, Disney+
Thomas Brodie-Sangster returns as Dr Jack Dawkins in the second series of the comedy-drama featuring characters from the Charles Dickens classic Oliver Twist. Jack, formerly known as the Artful Dodger, has moved to Australia and is using his light-fingered talent as a respected surgeon. But when his old gaffer Fagin (David Thewlis) shows up, Jack is tempted to pick a pocket or two, and soon he’s dragged back into a life of crime. As series two opens, Jack is being pursued by Inspector Henry Boxer (Luke Bracey). Meanwhile, his true love, Lady Belle Fox (Maia Mitchell), is pursuing her ambition to be the greatest woman surgeon. While Jack has to keep away from Belle to avoid the noose, Boxer tries to move in on his girl. When Fagin comes up with a plan for a big heist, Jack sees a chance to get himself out of a tricky spot – but will he just end up in more hot water?
Cross From Wednesday, February 11th, Prime Video
Aldis Hodge returns as the titular homicide detective for a second series of the crime drama based on the novels by James Patterson and set on the mean streets of Washington, DC. Alex Cross is not only a damn good cop but also a brilliant forensic psychologist, and his speciality is getting into the minds of the serial killers he’s hunting – great for catching killers but not very good for your long-term mental health. This season Cross is on the trail of a murderous vigilante who is targeting corrupt billionaires – of which there’s no shortage in DC.
How to Get to Heaven from BelfastFrom Thursday, February 12th, Netflix
Imagine the Derry Girls grew into adulthood and their lives became even more chaotic – and more dangerous – than ever before. This new comedy thriller from Derry Girls’ creator, Lisa McGee, stars Róisín Gallagher, Sinéad Keenan and Caoilfhionn Dunne as Saoirse, Robyn and Dara, three thirtysomething women who have been friends since childhood. There was a fourth bestie, Greta, but she has long been estranged from the gang. When they get an email informing them of Greta’s death, the friends head to the wake – and discover that the body in the coffin is not Greta’s. So begins a surreal odyssey around Ireland and farther afield as the trio set out to unravel the mystery while being pursued by various unsavoury characters. The cast includes Natasha O’Keeffe, Bronagh Gallagher, Michelle Fairley, Ardal O’Hanlon and Emmet J Scanlan.
56 DaysFrom Wednesday, February 18th, Prime Video
56 Days: Avan Jogia as Oliver Kennedy and Dove Cameron as Ciara Wyse. Photograph: Prime
Fans of the bestselling novel by the Cork author Catherine Ryan Howard will be looking forward to this Prime Video adaptation starring Dove Cameron and Avan Jogia, but there’s a caveat: the setting has been moved from Dublin to Boston, and the whole Covid-lockdown backdrop has been removed. But the sultry, sexy action is there, as is the clever plotline revolving around a young couple, Oliver and Ciara, who meet in a supermarket and embark on a sizzling relationship that ends in murder. But who killed whom? When homicide detectives find a badly decomposed body in Oliver’s apartment, they have to work out what happened, and that of course means a flashback to their first meeting, 56 days earlier.
The Last Thing He Told MeFrom Friday, February 20th, Apple TV
Angourie Rice and Jennifer Garner in season two of The Last Thing He Told Me, premiering February 20th on Apple TV
Jennifer Garner returns as Hannah Hall in the second series of the mystery-thriller hit based on the bestselling novel by Laura Dave. Following the sudden disappearance of her husband, Owen (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), Hannah finds herself up against the notorious Campano crime family, but she also finds a deeper connection with her stepdaughter, Bailey (Angourie Rice). In series two, Owen finally reappears after being on the run for five years, and now Hannah has to take some desperate measures to reunite her fractured family.
Paradise From Monday, February 23rd, Disney+
Paradise: Sterling K Brown as Secret Service agent Xavier Collins in season 2. Photograph: Hulu/Disney+
Sterling K Brown returns as Secret Service agent Xavier Collins in this twisty thriller where nothing is as it seems – not even the United States itself. Collins is assigned to security detail in a seemingly idyllic community where some of the world’s most powerful people live. He’s trying to solve the murder of the US president, and as the series develops the mad surprises and twists come thick and fast. If you’ve watched series one you’ll know what’s really going on. If you haven’t, we won’t spoil it for you. We’ll just tell you that Paradise has been praised as a deliciously plotted thriller and has been nominated for an Emmy, so it could be well worth catching up on.
VanishedFrom Friday, February 27th, Prime Video
Kaley Cuoco and Sam Claflin star in a four-part thriller about a couple who go on holiday to France only for one of them to mysteriously disappear. Alice and Tom are having a wonderful time in Paris; then, when they board a train for the south of France, things start to get weird, and a bit scary. Alice awakes on the train to find Tom is not in his seat. Nor is he in the loo or the dining car. In fact, he’s nowhere to be found. It’s not long before she encounters a whole world of intrigue and danger as she learns how little she really knows about him.
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters From Friday, February 27th, Apple TV
Kurt Russell leads the cast in this second season of the series set in the “monsterverse”, where the real stars are the Titans, giant CGI creatures that go around stomping on entire civilisations, including Kong (as in King Kong) and Godzilla. It all apparently ties in with such movies as Kong: Skull Island and Godzilla vs Kong, but who really cares about a narrative arc? This time Kong and Godzilla are joined by another, even nastier Titan, an enormous sea monster known only as Titan X. Russell stars as army officer Lee Shaw, with Russell’s son Wyatt Russell playing Shaw’s younger self in the 1950s. With Earth’s fate hanging by a thread, Shaw and his plucky young friends will have to delve deeper into the secretive organisation known as Monarch to find a way to defeat the coming CGI cataclysm.